Historically, when designing apparel, such as t-shirts, hoodies, pants and team uniforms, the design has taken place on a two dimensional plane via flat cut files on a computer screen generally using illustration software designed for two dimensional illustration. In practice, a designer would digitally lay artwork over a flat cut piece, or pattern, that has been defined by a patternmaker. The designer would have to rely on his own eyesight and intuition in order to determine whether design elements that cross seams do in fact cross over as intended. For example, this process would be used when a designer would want to create a stripe starting on a sleeve, transitions to the main body piece of a t-shirt, and over to the other sleeve while maintaining proper alignment such that the end result creates one straight line.
Currently, designers need to digitally select and move design elements, through use of the illustration software, while later trying to match up the cut and sew lines to determine if the design turned out as expected. The presently used method is not an exact science, takes time to master, and is time consuming even when mastered.
Therefore, there is need in the art for a system and method for converting two dimensional flat cut views into three dimensional views for the purpose of apparel design. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be explained and will become obvious to one skilled in the art through the summary of the invention that follows.